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The $8 million home put on the market by serial tech entrepreneur Alan Ezir

Photo courtesy of Canter Companies

For many Americans, the most valuable asset in their investment portfolio is their home.

Properly managing this asset and ensuring it plays into other long-term financial goals requires real estate expertise, which is a skill set most financial advisors lack. However, putting financial advisors and realtors under one roof can create a cross-pollination of ideas and expertise that provides homeowners with a holistic picture of their assets and how to maintain them.

Founded in 2006,Canter Companiesis a full-service investment firm that specializes in overseeing the lifecycle of real estate and asset management projects through acquisition, funding, development and sales. The company operates in two distinct spaces: real estate and wealth management. These industries are very different without much crossover in expertise. While this disconnect has been the cause of fragmentation within the financial services industry for years, it is the exact void that has given the San Diego-based company a competitive advantage in the evolving space.

In February, Canter introduced two listings for available properties, putting two multi-million dollar homes up for sale in bitcoin. Collectively priced at just under $20 million, one of the houses is owned by Circle Square Capital Founder and serial tech entrepreneur Alan Ezeir, who placed his beautifully designed estate on the market for $8 million.

Since being introduced in 2008, Bitcoin has swiftly evolved to transform the way we imagine global currency in a digital world. Developed by programmers and released as open-source software in 2009, Bitcoin is credited as the first decentralized digital currency, serving as an alternative peer-to-peer payment system.

Deviating from traditional payment methods, transactions are direct between users, without the need for third-party systems -- such as physical dollars, coins or credit cards. Additionally, bitcoins can be exchanged for other forms of currency, products or services.

In 2015, the total number of merchants accepting bitcoin as currency surpassed 100,000, with users being charged less than 2% per transaction, as opposed to the 2-3% processing fee assessed by credit card companies. Much like Gold, bitcoins can be used to store value, although they are not a tangible form of currency. Yet, Bitcoin currently has a market cap of around $12.5 billion, while the market cap of gold is $7 trillion.

I spoke with Alan Ezir about his journey as an entrepreneur, the thinking behind selling his home, and how bitcoin will continue to disrupt the changing economy.

Describe your journey as an entrepreneur and how your passion for business and innovation developed over time?

Alan Ezeir: Becoming an entrepreneur was never really my main goal. I knew very early on that I didn’t want to work for someone else, which inevitably led me to the path of being an entrepreneur. As I watched the world around me, I enjoyed observing those that were creating, running their own businesses, and doing things because they wanted to innovate. My passion for business developed when I experienced the feeling of selling someone else on a company I created from the bottom up. It’s the same feeling an athlete gets when they’re reaching their peak. It’s indescribable, but when you feel it, you know. Believe in what you do and find someone who lights up when you share it with them. That is where my passion lies. That’s what ultimately drove me to create new businesses.

What was the first idea you fully pursued and what lessons did you learn from the experience?

Alan Ezeir: The first real idea I fully invested in was with two roommates at UCLA in 1989. The three of us were living with two others in a small, two-bedroom apartment. We decided to start a computer consulting company. Consulting at twenty years-old was not the easiest thing to do, convincing others at our young age that we could teach them something, but I saw an opportunity nonetheless. I noticed that students were given a discount to purchase Apple computers. The caveat was that you could only buy one per student ID. I would find students that didn't want a computer and we would purchase the computers on their behalf, resell them at full retail and give a lower price consulting fee to get business. I knew it wasn't sustainable, but it made me learn how to find opportunities. That lesson always stuck with me -- look for a variance in a marketplace and find a solution for it.

What do you believe are the keys to being a successful entrepreneur in such a rapidly changing economy?

What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as an entrepreneur that have shaped the way you approach building businesses?

Alan Ezeir:Obstacles are hidden opportunities to challenge your mind and your willingness to take risks. I have had too many to count, but I think my ability to look forward has created a gap in my memory, preventing me from dwelling too much on a past problem. But, being a trailblazer of blockchain and cryptocurrency, a long-doubted industry, I can think of a few. One was flying ten hours to the island of Samoa to meet the King and Prime Minister to negotiate the rights to the ‘.ws’ top level domain extension. Everyone thought I was crazy and didn’t understand the reason or value to get the rights to this asset. We're talking 1998, and the world was all about .com so it seemed so easy. In hindsight, it was a leap into the darkness. It all came down to taking that risk and believing in my opportunity despite the apprehension of others.

You recently listed your home for $8 million in Bitcoin — Describe your thinking behind this move?

From the emergence of internet companies to the rise of Blockchain — What trends and shifts have you seen that entrepreneurs should be aware of?

Alan Ezeir: The Internet is, was, and has always has been a platform for businesses to assist in whatever products and services a company is selling. Not all companies use or need the Internet in the same way. Blockchain is very similar, but in my estimation will not has as big of a distributed impact. It’s a technology that will benefit and change many industries. The trends and shifts I have seen are like history repeating themselves. The trend that entrepreneurs need to watch out for is thinking that Blockchain will change every industry. This is the same way many entrepreneurs looked to the Internet to radically change every business model in the mid to late 90’s. The biggest shift is how other baseline technologies have created a timing event to make certain ideas ready. The introduction of the smartphone and ability to move data faster are just two examples of this.

What excites you about Blockchain technology and how would you describe its potential?

Alan Ezeir: I love BlockChain technology because it will solve the problem of trust between two parties. I believe that eliminating friction in any cycle is valuable for future innovation and in turn allows us to believe that there is always a better way. Think of all the jobs that are unnecessary and only exist because you need a trusted party. If we believed that the party on the other side was honest, then we would not have to spend so much time protecting the transaction or the process. Let’s all spend our time producing and creating versus validating, protecting, insuring and worrying that we will not get what we paid for.

What industries do you see Blockchain disrupting within the next 3-5 years?

Alan Ezeir: Here are some examples of the many I believe will happen. Some will take longer due to pressure from the existing infrastructure, but others will crumble similar to how stock brokerages did when the internet compressed the friction in the marketplace:

Music & Movies

Imagine when a song or a movie is played and the use of Blockchain can identify and correctly compensate the owner of that piece of art. This is a no-brainer, applicable to many digital assets. Currency in countries where trust and convenience are not as simple as we have it in the US. This is no different than what email and messaging did in the last two decades. Currency has a lot of friction in many countries. Blockchain will allow those countries to leapfrog trying to bring convenience and trust, similar to how cell phones did so in countries that never established a good landline infrastructure

Life Insurance

This seems like an obvious one. A person pays a fee hourly, daily or monthly and when a death certificate is issued then a payout is made. If all those actions were recorded on the Blockchain why would we need to use an intermediary to collect and validate the process.

Identity

My credit rating and credit history should only be controlled by me. Decentralizing this data and putting it on the Blockchain and giving the control to each individual seems like a no brainer. When the use of my identity or credit worthiness is needed I can grant limited access to it for those that are trying to validate it. It could never be manipulated and abused with the right measures in place.

I'm an award-winning content creator with a passion for adding my perspective to topics in music, media and entertainment. I've spearheaded campaigns and content for…

I'm an award-winning content creator with a passion for adding my perspective to topics in music, media and entertainment. I've spearheaded campaigns and content for brands like American Honda Motors, Wells Fargo, Google, and Magic Johnson Enterprises. I also worked closely alongside Sean "Diddy" Combs to launch REVOLT Media & TV as Social Media Director, before shaping the network's voice as Editorial Director. I've notably covered many of the biggest stories and moments in music, while interviewing many of its biggest artists. I teach Brand Writing and Content Marketing for MediaBistro, showing digital marketers how to tell impactful stories and build meaningful brands.